When California designers Dana and Melanie Harvey outfitted their vintage cars with seat belts, they had plenty of satiny strapping material left over. Instead of throwing them away, they wove remaining strips together, and the Detroit Bag was born.
Now, with many colorful variations including backpacks, tote bags, accessories and purses, these auto-inspired accessories have gained a loyal following at home and abroad.

Old cars have many parts that can be recycled such as tires, metal, engine oil, glass, electric wires, batteries and so on. In fact, up to 2 million vehicles reach the end of their useful life only in California each year and auto recycling is a leading industry in the United States.
Anything you can do to reprocess them helps our environment, and some talented people have even found very creative ways to reuse these parts adding a stylish twist to recycling.

Consider husband and wife Dana and Melanie Harvey, while installing seatbelts into their 1950 Buick 20 years ago they had the idea of making a matching handbag. Everyone loved hers so much that they decided to make more.

Starting in a one car garage in California, they quickly outgrew it and has since expanded to a 12,000 square foot design studio in Santa Ana, California.
The classically shaped handbags, fabricated entirely out of woven seatbelts, have been featured on hit shows like Friends and are in hot demand among many stars.
Hip magazines like Maxim, Jointz and Jump have all featured these trendy bags.

With names like Cadillac Blue, Limousine Black, Ferrari Red, and Mary Kay Pink, these auto-inspired accessories have gained a big following with celebrities such as Jamie Lee Curtis and Drew Barrymore, and the bags are topping gift lists of other stars as well.
But the real selling point is durability. Seat belts can withstand up to 6,000 pounds of stress, so you're free to stuff in all the essentials and plenty more. It's a rugged accessory you can take to the road.
They are so strong you can pull a truck with one or whack a purse snatcher into oblivion. The strap won't rip, either, if you get into a tug-of-war with a pilferer.
They are almost indestructible except for burning and cutting and easy to clean with some warm water and soap.